Many modern database tools integrate a database engine with a graphical user interface (GUI). In the GUI, the content of the database is formatted and displayed according to a layout. To modify the displayed content in conventional database tools, a user either updates the content in the database using a database editing tool or updates the layout using a layout editor. The content is formatted again using the updated data and updated layout. When multiple users use the same layout, one user's update in the layout is propagated to all users. Therefore, the conventional database tools are not suitable when a user intends to experiment with various layouts without affecting other users.